Okay so I'm not sure if I just wasn't paying attention yesterday or what but I checked on them because a friend wanted to see them over a video call and there are definitely eggs in Ashley's tube! I am so excited. She's only had the heating pad for a week and a half, and they are looking great. I can see about twenty individual eggs, all clustered together, and they each have a tiny black dot near one end. Oh my gosh I'm so excited.

Brittany has become very active since the heating pad was installed, and has been making furious efforts to squeeze past the cotton. No progress so far, and no eggs either. I wonder if she's just not fertile.

This is so amazing. Now I really want next week to come by so I can tell you guys about how the eggs are coming along. See you next week.

I was away last week, but I'm supposed to bother the queens as little as possible at this stage so that's only a good thing. It has now been 14 weeks since I caught Ashley and Brittany, and 2 weeks since Ashley laid eggs.
Here's Ashley on the left with her eggs, and Brittany still just hanging about on the right. I'm pretty certain she's infertile. I'm thinking about introducing them next week, but I'm not sure if it would hurt or help at this point, especially considering the stress of moving them. I think I'll ask in the main forums.

I can't wait for next week to see how my girls are coming along. See you then.

Well it looks like that's all she wrote. I found both Ashley and Brittany dead today. Their water is almost all gone, so I wonder if I should have checked on it sooner. I was about to move them.

Also I'm an idiot. I've been looking at them under a red light only, so I didn't notice that what looked like brood (and I had every reason to believe it was; same size, shape, color, etc) was actually mold. Ashley is covered in mold now, and Brittany had squeezed herself almost all the way out of the tube past the cotton, I think she was starved or dehydrated. I wish I had moved them last week, but sadly my first colony is dead before it got off the ground. RIP, Ashley and Brittany. You were fun to care for.

A sad ending to what had been an first exciting chapter in my antkeeping journey. I'll just have to keep my eyes open for more queens. It's about to be the rainy season, so hopefully there will be more flights soon. Until next time, guys.

Oh my gosh... I'm sorry that happened to you! I was getting all excited that you had eggs and everything. I know you were attached to them, I am attached to mine. Dying after 14 weeks, that is terrible. I know nothing about Okinawa but maybe someone can give you some ants, or you can find some.